What kind of professional identity do you want to have?

Shabin Mere
Sep 30, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Dec 1, 2023

Welcome to my Blog!

My name is Shabin Mere and I work as a manager for Home and Community Care in Surrey, BC for the Fraser Health Authority. My undergrad degree is in Nursing, which I completed at the University of Victoria. But before that, I was a diploma nurse when I graduated in 1995 from Douglas College in New Westminster, BC. I decided to pursue my undergrad after starting in a leadership coordinator position in Community Health. Since then, I have been in many leadership roles as a coordinator, educator, project leader, and team leader.

After so many years of being in Community in the various leadership roles, it was a dream for me to achieve a Masters's degree in the health field so I could work toward becoming an Operations or Project Director sometime soon, while I still have some good years to keep working before retiring.

When I first started Nursing, I originally dreamt of becoming an NP, but at the time I would have been able to complete that endeavor, there were not too many schools providing that program. So I decided to hold off and just aim for my BScN as a start, and then see where things go. Well, at least now I can complete some form of graduate studies - if not a MNP.

With over 23 years of leadership and operations experience, it seemed the natural course of progression would now be a Director position, where I can continue to help make a difference in the planning, implementation, evaluation, and practice of new and innovative strategies in health care delivery.

My favorite thing to do when I'm stressed and need to feel I'm escaping is to have a nice full body massage and cuddle up on the couch with a bucket of freshly popped popcorn and a cup of tea, to binge-watch the multitude of Korean TV series/movies - specifically the crime/mystery/thriller/fantasy series. Especially now that my kids are finally older and I don't have to worry about childcare, and teenage drama

My Social Media Audit

This was a very interesting and eerie experience. I Googled my name and found six hyperlinks that mention my name, which I never expected. Two are hyperlinked to Facebook, one to LinkedIn, one to a ResearchGate website linked to my undergrad university, and two to articles in local newspapers mentioning my name from interviews done with the author on certain public topics. The eerie one was seeing my picture under a hyperlink on Images for Shabin Mere.

When I looked through the images, the picture that I used for my LinkedIn profile was the first one. The rest were of folks I do not know, nor who have the same surname as me. I suppose that is because there do not appear to be any people with the surname ‘Mere’ in the way I spell it. I see now there are several people, male and female with the same first name. It was a little nerve-wracking knowing your private information is out there being exposed, and you may not even be aware or have any way to control it. While one may be able to look up individuals and have access to gain knowledge about harmful individuals who may have broken the law, it may also work against you when there is personal information unnecessary for others to have access to.

I rarely post anything on Facebook, especially since I became a manager. Mostly I respond to Birthday announcements or upload family pictures from trips or gatherings, but nothing to share about my life or opinions. I do not post on any other social media platforms, nor enjoy searching or scrolling through them, including Facebook. This is because it takes up too much of my time to post anything and keep up with so many friends who constantly post there. Because I am a manager in the healthcare field and I worry about the risk of my staff seeing certain personal information or posts about me, I only have my settings private. Even so, I am very careful about what I post even in the private setting. The only other platform I occasionally access and write about professional discussions on is LinkedIn, but even with that I am not active, nor have the patience or time to follow or post on.

My Professionalism Audit

As mentioned previously, I work as an RN clinical operations manager for Fraser Health Authority, which is a very large organization. Before that, I worked for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. In my role, I am accountable for the day-to-day operations and budget management, while also being accountable for the clinical quality of client care provided to our clients in the Community. Operationally, I have to report to my Director on staffing levels and ensure I am managing those needs within the budget, such as managing overtime, sick time, and other productive or non-productive hours, as well as other general expenses. Other responsibilities include meeting program mandates set out by the Ministry of Health, meeting reporting and metrics expectations such as RAI-MDS completions, or ensuring initiatives are implemented promptly, evaluated and tracked, and then measures or results are reported on time. If these are not met or adhered to, then I have to provide the reasons. Additionally, I may have to report why client connects/referrals are not met per priority, or why a client was not being monitored by the nurse for a complex, vulnerable, frail elderly in the Community, especially if it resulted in preventable hospital admission. There are a lot of small and big pieces involved in managing a large staffing model, and various programs within a portfolio, of which I have three programs.

I am protected first by my RN governing body, based on the registration fees and professional liability protection. Additionally, I am protected under my Health Authority under guidance from our Risk Management services, with specific designates for specific areas of care, ours being Community Health. These two sources of protection support me and my staff in situations where there may be accusations from a client/family member on various issues, such as theft, neglect, competency, and treatment of patients/clients/caregivers/property. Fraser Health Authority also has a media relations service that is notified if a client or family has warned us about going to the media.

My nursing profession interacts with several multi-disciplinary professions, such as all Allied Health Professionals, Physicians, and other health organizations that also employ health professionals. Within the health authority, these disciplines share a client’s care management while ensuring the client is safe to live at home. An example of interactions between the nursing staff and a social worker may include investigating a potential Adult Guardianship case for self-neglect, physical, emotional, or financial abuse, or services the client needs to access for housing and independent living. Nurses interact with physicians, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists for the client’s mobility and functional needs, and perhaps a dietitian for nutritional support when they cannot access other public or private resources. All disciplines also interact with physicians to report on the progress of their shared patient/client, or to consult on options for care management, medication and diagnostics orders, or other specialist referrals, and often with pharmacists on medication dispensing and delivery or administration. These are just some examples of the various interactions within professionals in the health delivery areas. Furthermore, we may interact with other non-healthcare professionals such as accountants and other financial department professionals, staffing, payroll, benefits, HR, patient quality care office, and many more departments. These are the ones that support the staff within the organization.

Closing Message

Thank you for joining me in my journey with learning and curating resources and knowledge from my Masters in Health Studies.

Again, I welcome you to check out my growth and development at this level of education. I hope what you find will be enjoyable and interesting to learn from as much as it will be for me!